Before your guests arrive you’ve want to politely lay down some brief ground rules. These clearly cover your expectations of guests for during their stay. Having rental house rules is encouraged just so both guests and homeowners know what to expect from the booking.
Most rules are unwritten or common courtesy, but you’ll be surprised how often they’ll be broken.
It’s important not to overwhelm guests with rules so keep them brief. Plus there’s a good chance your rules will be ignored completely. The more rules you leave, the more tuned out guests will be to following them.
I see hosts asks guests to strip the bed, put the linens in the wash and throw out the trash. I’ve even seen worse demands like asking guests to clean!
Honestly, I can understand asking them to take the rubbish out at the end of a booking, to avoid smells. But I really don’t agree with giving guests chores to complete before they leave – unless there are specific circumstances.
For example if you need a guest to turn a pool heater or air con on or off before they go for maintenance reasons.
Part of being a good host in hospitality is making the guest’s stay as pleasant and stress free as possible. Making a guest feel welcome includes covering the chores when they’ve left as any good host should. Guests pay good money for their stays including cleaning fees and this should cover everything you need.
Airbnb does have simple ground rules for guests which are the bare minimum a guest should do. Reading through them, you’d hope these are just normal behavioural traits for guests. But you can add more if you need to. Here’s some simple and expected rental house rules for guests you should consider.
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No smoking 🚭
It is an unwritten rule that you wouldn’t smoke in someone elses home without asking. Unless you smoke yourself or want to allow a smoking property, clearly state that you don’t allow smoking.
I’ve noticed that hardly any properties allow it. Which makes a smoking-allowed property an untapped niche on rental platforms.
No parties or events 🎉
A given, but be specific and don’t just state ‘party’. A guest may consider inviting 6 people round with music and drinks a casual night in. A host may consider this a party. Specify how many people you allow in the property during a booking. For me I make it clear that my property sleeps 2. I also state that there should be no more than 3 people in the property at any time.
No illegal activity 👮🏻♂️
It sounds silly to remind guests but let guests know in advance that you don’t condone illegal activity. A relaxed homeowner may find their property used as a pop up brothel or as drug collection point. Yes, the platform can be used for this!
The bottom line is, some people will break the law regardless. By reminding a potential guest that you are aware of what goes on will discourage those looking to use it for illegal purposes.
No unaccompanied minors 👦
Hosts have had experiences in the past where a booking made under an adult has led to underage individuals turning up. They’ve booked to either to use it for a party or to stay while the adults turn up later.
You likely won’t be covered on your insurance for an unaccompanied minor. Likewise, they should not be your responsibility to mind until their guardians arrive, so make this clear.
State how many the property sleeps. 🛌
My property sleeps two and I have my suspicions it’s been used to house many more than that in one go. Before I had the ring doorbell set up, it has been clear that 2 person bookings were actually full families staying in the property.
If you have a double bed that sleeps two and don’t make it clear that you will only accommodate two at your full property rental, what’s the stop a guest from letting an extra family member take the couch and another two friends take the floor?
Your home is not a crash pad for an endless group and only designated beds should be used.
Pets 🐶
Unless you allow pets to stay, make this clear. As much as we love them, pets do add additional cleaning. If other guests are highly allergic they won’t want to stay somewhere where animal dander may be present.
You are however required to accept support pets, for example guide dogs or emotional support animals.
Maintenance rules
Politely asking guests to turn off particular parts of the house that need attention for the general running of the property, for example heating or air con before they go is perfectly acceptable.
If you need to implement a rule like this, just make the instructions clear and easy for the guest. In an ideal world, we wouldn’t ask guests to do anything before they go. But sometimes the monetary savings and environmental impact can be huge.
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Cleaning the property before the guests go.
I hate this rule. It shocks me to see Airbnb guests referencing experiences of hosts asking them to clean at the end of their stay.
This is stupid for two reasons. Firstly, it’s rude to ask a guest to do a clean after their stay. No guest is going to get a place clean on their day of departure by checkout time. They also won’t want to clean if their on either a leisure or business trip.
Secondly, everyone’s ideas of cleanliness is different. A guest is not going to get the property as clean as it should be for your hosting needs. Don’t be the host that gives Airbnb a bad name!
Taking the trash out / emptying the bins
If you absolutely have to implement a cleaning rule, let this be the only one. It’s understandable if the property is remote and you won’t be able to get there for a few days then it’s perfectly fine to ask the guests to put it in outside bins to stop bugs or smells from staying in the property.
For me, I will likely need a bag to use for rubbish when I’m cleaning the property when the guest has gone and I clean pretty much the same day that the guests leaves. Because of this, rather than use another bin bag, I’ll just use the one the guest has been using as it isn’t full after a 1 or 2 night stay.
Stripping the beds and putting the laundry in the wash:
Hotels don’t ask for this, don’t ask for this either. Investing in multiple bedding sets will save you time during turn over so you won’t need to ask guests to put on laundry for when you come to prep the property.
Asking the guests to wash up/turn on the dish washer.
Mosts guests are polite enough to wash up after themselves although I’ve had some guests don’t do any washing up during their stays with all of the crockery and utensils being used and whilst it’s annoying, even this doesn’t bother me too much.
Getting the guests to do the washing up or load and turn on the dishwasher can help save time during your turnover, but again, the polite thing to do in hospitality is let the guest leave and you clean up afterwards. We as hosts live in hope that a guest will take initiative – and most do!
There is no right or wrong way to host but I get the impression Airbnb discourages asking guests to help out around the house just to make sure the guest has an enjoyable experience using the platform.
Of course, you are hosting in your own home and your rules are king. If you are expecting guests to pull their weight during their trip then expect to offer a cheaper nightly stay, be clear up front on your property listing what is expected and include these expectations to a guest in messages before they book.
Whatever rules you need or choose to implement keep them as simple as possible – your guests will thank you for it in the long run with stress free stays and good ratings will follow.